1st Edition

Contemporary Yoga and Sacred Texts

Edited By Susanne Scholz, Caroline Vander Stichele Copyright 2025
216 Pages
by Routledge

216 Pages
by Routledge

216 Pages
by Routledge

This book explores the textual traditions that authorize the history, legitimacy, and authenticity of today’s physical posture practice. The volume focuses on why and how yoga communities have adopted various texts that they consider sacred or spiritually meaningful. Among the texts discussed are Yogananda‘s Autobiography , Sri Aurobindo's Savitri , Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra , the Bhagavad Gita... Read more

1. Sādhana-krīyā and Mokṣa in the Yoginī Tantra

Arunjana Das

2. An Exploration of "Crazy Wisdom" in Ancient and Contemporary Buddhist Stories

Paul Van Der Velde

3. Charles Johnston’s Translation of the Yogasūtra as a Book of Theosophical Initiation

Yves Mühlematter

4. Life, Death, and Deathlessness in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri

Daniel Raveh

5. Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi as Sacred Text

David J. Neumann

6. Howard Thurman and the Roots of Modern Black Atlantic Yogas

James Manigault-Bryant

7. Osho-Rajneesh and the Reformulation of Yoga in the Twentieth Century

Hugh B. Urban

8. How the Vedas Became the Word of God

Hugh Pyper

9. Reading Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra Like the Bible in Sunday School

Susanne Scholz

10. Texts, Teachers, and Traditions of Flemish Yoga Pioneers

Caroline Vander Stichele

Biography

Susanne Scholz is Professor of Old Testament at SMU Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas, United States. Her research focuses on the cultural study of sacred texts, especially the Hebrew Bible.

Caroline Vander Stichele is Professor of New Testament and Cultural Impact of the Bible in Western Culture at the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands.